Rumpelstiltskin (Fairytale)

This article focuses on the fairytale, "Rumpelstiltskin". For the Enchanted Forest character, see Rumplestiltskin.

Template:Fairytale "Rumpelstiltskin", also known as "Rumpelstilzchen", is a fairytale featured on ABC's Once Upon a Time. It was written by the German authors Jacob and Wilhelm of the Brothers Grimm and incorporated into the book "Grimms' Fairy Tales" in 1812.

Traditional Plot

In a faraway kingdom long ago, a poor miller who wishes to become wealthy tells the King that his daughter can spin straw into gold. The girl is summoned to the Royal Palace and locked in a tower filled with straw before learning she must spin all the straw into gold by morning or face execution.

The daughter bursts into tears and is unsure of what to do when an impish creature suddenly appears, boasting that he can spin the straw into gold in exchange for her necklace. The daughter accepts and the imp accomplishes the task before disappearing into thin air. When the sun rises, the King enters the room and is shocked to see all the straw having become threads of gold.

That night, the daughter is locked in a bigger room and sees that it is filled with even more straw. The King presents her the same challenge: spin all the straw into gold by morning or face execution. The imp appears soon afterwards and promises to accomplish the task in exchange for the daughter's ring. The next evening, the King orders her to accomplish the task a third time and become his queen as a reward or face execution. When the imp appears, the daughter - who has nothing left to bargain with - promises to give him her firstborn child in exchange for his help. The imp accepts the bargain and spins the straw into threads of gold before vanishing into thin air.

The next morning, the King is so impressed with the miller's daughter that he makes her his Queen. Time passes and the Queen eventually gives birth to a child. But when the imp returns to claim his payment, she is afraid to give away her firstborn. She offers all the wealth she has only for the trickster to decline as he has no interest in riches. At last he consents to give up his claim to the child if the Queen is able to guess his name within three days.

The first two days pass and the Queen sends a messenger throughout the kingdom to gather names. Her attempts fail but then the night before the final day, the Queen learns that her messenger has found the imp's remote mountain cottage. The messenger explains as he watched from a distance, the imp sang and danced around the fire - revealing his true name in the lyrics of his song.

When the imp appears on the third day, the Queen feigns ignorance by making false attempts but then reveals his name to be Rumpelstiltskin. The imp becomes violent in an instant and stomps his right foot so hard that it's driven deep into the ground - prompting him to seize his left foot and tear himself in two.

Show Adaptation

• Rumplestiltskin is known as the "Dark One", having earned this title by killing his predecessor with an enchanted dagger in order to save his son Baelfire from being drafted into the Ogre Wars.
• The miller's daughter Cora (who later becomes the Queen of Hearts) gives birth to a daughter, Regina, who later becomes the Evil Queen.
• By the time that Cora meets Rumplestiltskin, she already had her first born child and had given her up, which the child ends up in Oz and becomes the Wicked Witch of the West.
• Rumplestiltskin's contract with the miller's daughter is changed so that he can teach her to spin straw into gold. It is later changed so that Rumplestiltskin gets his first child with the miller's daughter.
• The Miller does not tell the King that his daughter can spin straw into gold but it was his daughter herself.
• Not the King, but his son, Prince Henry, marries the miller's daughter after she spins straw into gold.
• Rumplestiltskin survives his encounter with the Miller's Daughter and goes on to make deals with others, notably Snow White, Prince Charming and Cinderella.

Characters Featured

• Rumplestiltskin
• The Miller's Daughter
• The baby
• The King
• The Miller

References

Stories

A – M The Adventures of Pinocchio | The Adventures of Tom Sawyer | Aesop's Fables | Alice's Adventures in Wonderland | Arthurian legend | "Beauty and the Beast" | Beowulf | The BFG | Carrie | Celtic mythology | "Cinderella" | A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court | The Count of Monte Cristo | The Curse of Capistrano | Don Quixote | The Emerald City of Oz | Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus | "The Frog Prince" | Germanic mythology | "Goldilocks and the Three Bears" | Greek mythology | "Hansel and Gretel" | The Hundred and One Dalmatians | "Jack and the Beanstalk" | "Jack and Jill" | "Jack the Giant Killer" | "Little Bo Peep" | "Jack Sprat" | La Cenerentola | "The Little Mermaid" | "Little Red Riding Hood" | The Lord of the Rings | The Marvelous Land of Oz | Mary Reilly | Moby-Dick | Mulan | The Mysterious Island N – Z Nursery rhymes | One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest | One Thousand and One Nights | The Patchwork Girl of Oz | Peter and the Wolf | Peter and Wendy | "Peter Peter Pumpkin Eater" | "The Pied Piper of Hamelin" | Polynesian mythology | Pride and Prejudice | The Prince and the Pauper | "Rapunzel" | "Rip Van Winkle" | Robin Hood | Roman mythology | "Rumpelstiltskin" | The Scarlet Letter | Slavic mythology | "Sleeping Beauty" | "The Snow Queen" | "Snow White" | "Snow-White and Rose-Red" | "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" | Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde | Swan Lake | "Three Billy Goats Gruff" | The Three Musketeers | The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark | Treasure Island | Through the Looking-Glass | Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea | "The Ugly Duckling" | The Wonderful Wizard of Oz "Rumpelstiltskin"